Decisive second leg at Olympic Stadium
CF Montréal is getting set to take on Mexican side Cruz Azul in the second leg of the quarterfinals of the Concacaf Champions League, this Wednesday at Olympic Stadium at 8pm. Tickets for this decisive leg are still available here.
Montreal put up a good fight in the first leg, ultimately losing 1-0 at Estadio Azteca. Despite an early rush of pressure for the home side, Wilfried Nancy’s men were able to hang on and create a few chances of their own in the second half, although they couldn’t find the back of the net for that crucial away goal.
They return home now with the difficult but not impossible task of beating Cruz Azul in front of a home crowd by at least two goals. If the score is 1-0 in favour of the home side after 90 minutes, the game would be decided in a penalty shootout.
“We know we need to score goals and avoid conceding them,” said head coach Wilfried Nancy. It’s a very similar scenario to what we lived in the round of 16. Cruz Azul has a different style than Santos Laguna of course, but we continue to focus mostly on ourselves. Our execution will need to be perfect.”
Montreal is no stranger to this type of scenario. After going down 1-0 in the first leg of the round of 16 against Santos Laguna, Montreal stormed back with a vintage Champions League performance at home, winning 3-0 to book their ticket in the next round.
They’ll be looking to repeat the same type of performance when the Mexican side visits the Big-O Wednesday night.
“It’s a quarterfinal in the Champions League,” said Nancy. “We know our history in this competition. The objective of our players is to continue writing this history. Tomorrow, we have an opportunity to continue in this fabulous competition and to continue writing this Club’s history. The players are conscious of this, and they are very motivated. We’re here to win this game.”
Montreal will be looking to qualify to the semi-final of the continental tournament for the first time since 2015, when Cameron Porter’s goal in stoppage time against Pachuca propelled the team to the semi-finals. They reached the final that year, eventually losing out to Club America.
In 2020, they were ousted at the quarterfinal stage after a close matchup with Honduran side CF Olimpia.
After their Champions League tilt, Montreal will continue its sequence on the road in MLS with a game against Atlanta United, this Saturday, March 19, at 4pm, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
